Presenting The Sands of Time part 2:Sandra and Shehara + Round 13 Poll! (Pics inside)

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Presenting The Sands of Time part 2:Sandra and Shehara + Round 13 Poll! (Pics inside)

Well it was a long wait but hopefully it was worth it. Sandra fit in too well with other characters I had had going for me not to do something special. So I decided instead of a normal medium sized bio I would do a multi- chaptered and semi illustrated fan-fic. In part one we read of Charmor and how he got his powers and came across a magical temple. To read part one click here!

Now in Chapter 2 we will meet two new characters: Sandra and Shehara. I hope you enjoy it as I worked really hard on it. So now presenting:

SANDRASorceress of the Sands of Time

Part 1: Sand Storm

Sandra was born into a tribe of wandering desert nomads that lived in Eternia's Sands of Time. Her life was pretty ordinary as it followed a rather consistent routine. However, one day Sandra's life was tipped upside down. Sandstorms were nothing new to her tribe, but on this day the storm was fiercer than any Sandra had experienced. Sandra was out alone gathering cact-pods so that her tribe would have fresh water for their journey the next day. When the storm began and with the strong sand-filled winds blowing in what seemed like every direction Sandra was unable to make it back to her tribe and became separated. She decided to find shelter and wait out the storm.

The next day Sandra attempted to reconnect with her tribe, but was unable. She wandered for days looking for them, using every technique she could think of to discover which direction they had gone. Unfortunately the storm had blown away any evidence of their having been there. She feared the worst; that they may not have survived, but decided to search on. After a few days, water parched and hungry Sandra came across a huge temple. It looked empty and Sandra decided to see if she could find something to eat or drink inside.

As Sandra approached the Temple she noticed a huge white beast sleeping next to it as if on guard. The creature was mostly white with a grayish snout and finger shaped flaps of skin hanging from its nose. Its body was lanky and with its short legs it walked close to the ground. The beast was similar to the animals her tribe hunted however this one was much much larger. In fact, it looked to be about two stories in height, five if standing on its hind legs.

If it was anything like the little ones she had come in contact with this was a feat it was likely capable of. This one however, looked as if it might be some less evolved Preternian ancestor, though how that could be Sandra didn't know. Luckily she was well versed in dealing with these animals and was able to slip into the temple undetected. As she entered the temple something strange occurred. Almost immediately Sandra felt her belly fill and her hunger pass. She touched a finger to her dried lips and felt them hydrate and her mouth moisten. Having never experienced anything like it Sandra became excited about what other wonders this Temple might hold and began to explore it further.

Part 2: The Temple of...

Many doors lined the stone corridor however, all of them were locked. After awhile Sandra found herself outside two giant doors. Next to them was a decorative horned Mask hanging on the wall. A chill ran up her spine as she looked through the black eye sockets. She was certain that these doors would also be locked, but she decided to try them anyway. Sandra was shocked to find that they opened with the slightest touch and she found herself standing in the entryway of what looked to be the temples main sanctuary.

It seemed to have been deserted for a very long time. As she looked around, she saw that all along the walls where large alters filled with jeweled and gilded artifacts. Just what had Sandra found? If she brought just one of these things back to her tribe they would be able to trade it for enough goods to last a generation. As she approached the nearest table something caught her eye far in the back of the sanctuary. Not knowing why Sandra felt compelled, but determined to find out, she changed direction midstep and headed toward the back of the room. She found, hidden amongst much more elaborate and dazzling items, a small gold scarab carving. In comparison to the things around it, it was rather plain but Sandra felt drawn to it. She reached to pick it up.

In the back of her head she thought she had heard a man's voice call out to stop her, but the item was intoxicating and she couldn't break from picking it up. Immediately upon touching the artifact Sandra noticed the Scarab began to turn black, the scarab then flew from her hands and into the air and then back toward her, smacking her in the chest. Startled, Sandra grabbed at it in vain, only to find that the scarab had bitten her and attached itself directly to her skin. Sandra clawed at the small insect crying out in pain as panic began to set in. Suddenly she noticed that her fingertips were beginning change, first they took on the texture sand, then slowly they began to grind away into smaller sand particles as they lost form and fell to the floor. She watched helplessly as her hands disappeared, then bit by bit the rest of her body began to soften. Sandra watched in horror as her arms and legs fell into a coarse pile of sand, and eventually the rest of her followed.

A few moments later the creature Sandra had passed earlier roared… however as nothing more than a pile of sand on the ground Sandra was unable to hear it.

Part 3: Meanwhile, Charmor!
(If you remember from Charmor's bio he had entered the Sanctuary just before Sandra was turned to sand and witnessed the whole thing.)

Charmor, stood there for a moment taking in what had just happened wishing he could had saved the poor girl. He started walking forward again passing by the pile of sand that used to be a girl and saw that the scarab had once again turned to gold and fallen neatly in the center of the pile of sand. He raked his foot through the dust and nudged the scarab across the stone floor, not quite sure what h was looking for, but hoping the young girl might somehow still live. For a flicker of a second he felt the presence of someone but looking around the room saw no one. He shrugged it off and continued looking for the final pieces of Ramak's charming tools.

He found them in the back of the large hall on a table that was completely covered in dust. If not for the large snake emblem on the wall behind the table Charmor would have never noticed them. Brushing away the dust, he found that the chest armor was completely mirrored. He could see his reflection in every part of it clear as day. He quickly put it on and then grabbed the other artifacts: two swords.

They were beautiful and ornate… suddenly he heard movement from behind him and he swung around.

A haggard slow moving old wretch of a woman stood there pointing a boney finger at him. "Who is stealing my precious items."

"These items belong to the royal family of my kingdom, I am merely retrieving them,” he explained.

"No.” Said the woman, “No, I think not."

Charmor decide to just ignore her and leave; she hardly seemed capable, or quick enough, to stop him. As he walked past her she whispered to him "Not a very wise idea my child." He continued to ignore her and was nearly to the door when he glanced back to see the old woman playing with the pile of sand. He hesitated, curious to see what she was doing and watched as she pulled an hourglass from her cloak and filled it with the sands left on the ground. She then picked up the scarab and fastened it to the top of the item and turned to him.

Without warning she let go of the hourglass. Charmor tightened for a moment expecting the metal to crash and bang against the stone floor, but it did not. Instead it hovered there for a moment in mid air and then slowly turned itself over. He watched as the sands from the top section of the hourglass began to rush into the bottom and at the same time a wind blew into the room and rushed around the old woman. Within moments the old woman was no longer an old woman, She stood up and was quite tall and let her newly shimmering robes fall to the ground.

Part 4: ...Shokoti!

"I am Shokoti!" The woman explained, "and you have something that is mine. Return it at once."

The woman was definitely Gar, and beyond beautiful. Confidence exuded from her and Charmor quickly decided that it was best to avoid a scuffle with this witch and attempt to flee. Unfortunately, the doors in front of him slammed shut before he could get to them. He was trapped. Charmor slowly turned to again face Shokoti and as he did he thought he noticed a figure to his left but whatever he thought he had seen was no longer there. He shook it off and focused his attention back on the threat before him.

"Just what did you think you were going to do?" Shokoti said as she stepped toward a nearby alter, "take my precious things? Naughty. You will however make a good snack for our friend outside, and your heart, well I'm sure I can find a use for your heart. "

The blue skinned witch picked up a small orb from a jeweled box on the alter and whispered something inaudible to Charmor's ears. A moment later the orb began to shimmer and glow in a green light. "Your heart has many uses to me." Shokoti continued "I think the most pressing however is securing my beauty. A few bites of your heart for my scarab friend here and that insolent girl's fate will be sealed and I will be young again for another hundred years. "

Charmor braced himself for attack when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and voice whisper in his ear. "You must smash the hourglass!" Charmor looked around but found no one there. "What kind of trickery is this" he called out to Shokoti.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she replied "perhaps the Sands of Time have gotten stuck in your ears. Now come to me boy and be my feast."

Charmor has an idea and he slowly approached Shokoti subtly pulling his cloak around his body to conceal the armor he had put on earlier. He noticed light spilling into the room from a broken pane in a window. If he timed it right, the mirrored armor should reflect and blind Shokoti just long enough for him to get in an unexpected attack. About a foot away from Shokoti, Charmor opened his cloak and his plan worked. The reflection of light did in fact blind her for a moment; however, her reaction was to blast Charmor away from her with a powerful bolt of electricity. Luckily as he fell backward he was smart enough to slap the hour glass from Shokoti's grip, sending it smashing to the floor.

Shokoti shrieked as she watched her hourglass, which also happened to be the source of her new found youth, break into a few hundred pieces.
"What have you done?" The witch cried out. Just then Charmor noticed the sands that had spilled from the hourglass onto the floor were beginning to fly up into the air. They formed a sort of sand cloud and slipped behind Shokoti whom didn't seem to notice the event as she was too busy watching her body slowly turn back to its older more decrepit self.

Miraculously Charmor saw a woman's form begin to take shape within the sand cloud. The woman was like a Genii from a lamp. From waist to her head she was now fully a woman again flesh and blood, however from her waist down a smoke like cloud of sand connected from there to the smashed hourglass on the floor. The woman quickly lunged out at Shokoti in attack. Charmor recognized her features in the young woman he has recently failed to save. Sandra had returned, somehow.

(art by Beyond the Legends)

Struggling to break free from Sandra's grip, Shokoti spat out "What do you think you'll do to me girl, you may have powers now but you hardly know how to use them." Just then the scarab that had once affixed itself to Shokoti's hourglass flew into the air and bit her turning the witch into sand. Thanks little friend Sandra whispered as the bug landed on her chest affixing itself to Sandra's outfit.

"That was lucky." Charmor said as he got to his feet. "My name is Charmor, thanks for the help."

"My name is Sandra, and luck didn't have anything to do with it. I can't explain it but somehow I know things that I didn't know before. I am still myself but I suddenly have knowledge and memories that are not my own. Somehow I knew how to speak to the scarab, I also know that the Orb Shokoti has is incredibly dangerous, it must be destroyed." Sandra was now fully flesh from head to toe and the smashed hourglass that had been on the floor a few moments earlier had now reappeared fused into her abdomen, fully formed once more.
"Wow." Charmor said as he reached out to touch Sandra's stomach.
"Watch it mister." Sandra responded slapping Charmor's hand away. "We need to find the orb."
"No problem I saw it fall right over… " he stopped mid-sentence as he realized the orb was gone.
"Looking for this?"
Charmor spun around watching in shock as a woman's figure materialized from the shadows around the sanctuary doors. The woman was almost completely covered in black robes, her face veiled. Green eyes sparkled out from above it.

Part 6: Presenting Shehara

(art by Beyond the Legends)

"YOU! You were the one in my ear, you've been here the entire time haven't you?…who are you?
"I am Shehara, and I am sorry but I cannot trust such imbeciles with the power of the Orb." Shehara placed the glowing orb into her robes. "I will be leaving now."
"Not if I have anything to do with it." Charmor said as he took out his swords.
"You hurt me? Please!" the veiled spy replied. Just then the woman jumped into the air and before Charmor could react she had kicked him in hard in the chest-armor. He fell to the floor. "It was nice to finally meet you Charmor, but I must leave you. I have a busy day."
"Hey! You still have to deal with me." Sandra yelled.
"You'd have to catch me first." Shehara replied and then turned and ran out of the room slowly fading back into nothing as she did so.

"She must be caught Charmor, all of Eternia is at stake" Sandra cried as she helped Charmor to his feet.

Part 7: Friend or Foe?

The pair ran out in the hall and towards the main gate when suddenly they both stopped in unison finding the veiled woman Shehara before them collapsed on the floor. Sandra looked up to see an armored man slip out of the castle holding what looked to be the orb. "This orb seems quite popular." Charmor commented as he followed Sandra's gaze and saw the newest thief.

(art by Gbagok)

"I'll get him, stay here with the girl" Charmor said cockily to Sandra.
Just then Shehara put her hand to her head and slowly awoke. She reached out grabbing Charmor's arm. "No, he's too powerful with the orb in his possession; we need to have a plan. I know where he is going."
"Why should we trust you?" Charmor and Sandra spat out almost in unison.
"Because you have to, with the power of that orb Masque could destroy all that we know." Shehara replied. Meanwhile the name masque rang through Sandra's mind. She remembered the horned Mask outside the sanctuary doors. Had that been him?

Shehara continued. " I didn't trust the two of you with the orb. I was just doing what I had to, to get rid of the orb. You must trust me."

"I don't know if that possible… but if you know where he's going, lead us there, we'll see if you speak the truth. " Charmor said. Just then the ground shook and the trio heard a large thud from outside.

Together Charmor and Sandra helped Shehara to her feet and the three exited the temple to find out what was going on outside. The giant beast that had been guarding the temple before lay before them passed out as if having battled a creature twice its size. Atop it stood a blonde muscle bound man in furry shorts, snake decorated armor, and a large claw like contraction on his arm. The man immediately leapt from the creature and landed easily in front of Charmor, Sandra and Shehara.

"And just where do you think you three are going? You have some explaining to do.” He-man said in a deep baritone.

(art of oIcemano's I found! I can remove it if you don't like it in here though)

To be CONTINUED....look for Chapter 3 of The Sands of Time later this year!

For now though I leave you with a teaser of another piece of Sandra art work soon to come:

Very fun read and the outcome of Sandra and Shehara are very cool. So far loving the artwork on the final design. It's fun to see all the little aspects from the different concept pieces come together in the end so well. Love it!

He weeps, for he has but one small tongue, with which to taste an entire world!

Lots of original custom t-shirts and stickers available @ http://www.redbubble.com/people/mightyrain
Many designs based on Masters of the Universe, Classic video games and random movies/cartoons/movies we all know and love.

I'm glad you like it Duebert. Hope you'll join us in the next challenge! :-)

Originally Posted by Rain

Very fun read and the outcome of Sandra and Shehara are very cool. So far loving the artwork on the final design. It's fun to see all the little aspects from the different concept pieces come together in the end so well. Love it!

He weeps, for he has but one small tongue, with which to taste an entire world!

Lots of original custom t-shirts and stickers available @ http://www.redbubble.com/people/mightyrain
Many designs based on Masters of the Universe, Classic video games and random movies/cartoons/movies we all know and love.

THis was indeed well-worth the wait Patreek, I like the design you went with Sandra, and even keeping my idea of a comb-like weapon ! Was a little unsure of her being blonde at first but then dawned on me, sandy blonde hair...durrrr LOL! Shehara's another cool idea, and was surprised she's not evil, I mean she kinda looked evil but that was the point right? I'm definetly looking forward to the next chapter

Visit my art page at: http://theblock.deviantart.com/ , if you like my work and have an account there to, feel free to fave or watch me, I could use the street cred !

Feather Fin sounds the most visually pleasing to me... I see a cross of stratos and merman... and I love it lol!

Anyway I am surprised there isn'tt more feedback on Sandra. The story is awesome! and the artwork as well!

He weeps, for he has but one small tongue, with which to taste an entire world!

Lots of original custom t-shirts and stickers available @ http://www.redbubble.com/people/mightyrain
Many designs based on Masters of the Universe, Classic video games and random movies/cartoons/movies we all know and love.

Story I would have to say that even tho I never liked Sandra (as you well know Pat) it was still well written, especially the bit where Charmor witnesses Sandra being turned to sand. His reaction of poking it a bit and then deciding "oh well these things happen" before returning to his search for whatever...very amusing.

Also this Shehara character is interesting. Still who made her boss of the orb and gave her the right to deserve who can have it? Little miss bossy boots.

It was also nice to see Masque and Shokoti get a mention...especially Masque because I have never seen him mentioned as much as Shokoti.

Story I would have to say that even tho I never liked Sandra (as you well know Pat) it was still well written, especially the bit where Charmor witnesses Sandra being turned to sand. His reaction of poking it a bit and then deciding "oh well these things happen" before returning to his search for whatever...very amusing.

Also this Shehara character is interesting. Still who made her boss of the orb and gave her the right to deserve who can have it? Little miss bossy boots.

It was also nice to see Masque and Shokoti get a mention...especially Masque because I have never seen him mentioned as much as Shokoti.

Can't wait for part 3...

Glad you enjoyed it wolf, Part three will be fun. Expect to see more of Mask plus appearances by Kactura, Nepthu, and Wraptor.